[woodburner]

Possibly not the right place for this Q as it's not actually about chooks, but it's the chooks that I'm concerned for.

About 20 yards from my chooks, I have discovered some sort of rodent? nest/tunnels.
My first thought was rabbits, a scrape in the ground with a lot of droppings by it, but on closer inspection, the droppings are a bit small, and the scrape has two small tunnels, about mole size.
I've never seen mole droppings, but there's no sign of the earth from the tunnels/scrape anyway, which I'm pretty sure would still be around if it were moles.  :S
Do squirrels ever make dreys underground?
Deer (Muntjac?) might be responsible for the droppings, but they don't make holes.
The droppings are well rounded, though slightly less close to spherical than rabbits'.
I'm sure rats droppings are longer and thinner, but it's ages since I saw any and can't find a pic of any to check, nor can I find a pic of anything like these. (Except rabbit, but these are smaller, and deer, can't tell size from photo. )

Is it rats?

[Vember]

Rats do burrow I have a hole outside made by one I set a trap by it every night and have put poision down.
I'll go take a photo then you can see if it looks similar
BRB


Sarah

[Vember]

Here we go, might help



Also pic of Rat Poo, kindly donated by Rizzo my pet rat - give you an idea of shape & size



Hope that's of some help

Sarah

[woodburner]

Cripes, how big is Rizzo? Thanks for the pics. I can't really tell the size of the hole though.

I've had a better look at the hole now, while trying to take a pic, and it's a lot bigger than I thought! I'm really hoping it's a small rabbit now!! Because if it's not then it's one H*** of a big rat!
I managed to get a fairly decent pic of the droppings and will try and upload it to show here.

[shiatsusu]

We have exact same holes in our garden with accompanying tiny rat feet marks courtesy of recent snow    Everyone knows about wiles disease? Potentially fatal to humans if infected rats come into contact with us so please all be careful. Here's a link on the subject

http://www.btinternet.com/~ringwood.canoe/Weils.htm

[shiatsusu]

They are bigger than you think - i'd been hoping ours were rabbits as they seem way too big for rats 

[woodburner]

We have exact same holes in our garden with accompanying tiny rat feet marks courtesy of recent snow    Everyone knows about wiles disease? Potentially fatal to humans if infected rats come into contact with us so please all be careful. Here's a link on the subject

http://www.btinternet.com/~ringwood.canoe/Weils.htm

Yeah, that's why I'm not touching anything until I know what I'm dealing with.
I'm beginning to think I should just take a spade to it as I have no great love of rabbits or squirrels either anyway. I'm just a bit worried that it might be something like a stoat or mink, and it'll bite straight through whatever gloves I've got.

They are bigger than you think - i'd been hoping ours were rabbits as they seem way too big for rats 

Oh dear! 
I've seen 'runs' through matted grass before now, and assumed they were rats as they were bigger than mouse holes, but they weren't this big. Maybe they were some other rodent though.
We're bound to have rats around here, but I'm very NIMBY about them, on account of the chooks.

[shiatsusu]

Me too    I reduced my HTB to tears of laughter by shooting at them out of the kitchen window  Hate to be negative but filling them in won't last- I tried that, they just dug back through, then we put stones and bricks down, don't ask me how but they got round those, finally in desperation I stuffed dog poo down the holes but although they went away for a few weeks (presumably while it rotted!) they're now back...  I wonder about getting the rat catcher in? We have chooks, dog, cat, guinea pig and small children. It's a worry. (fish too but the indoor variety so I guess they're safe  )

[woodburner]

Me too    I reduced my HTB to tears of laughter by shooting at them out of the kitchen window  Hate to be negative but filling them in won't last- I tried that, they just dug back through, then we put stones and bricks down, don't ask me how but they got round those, finally in desperation I stuffed dog poo down the holes but although they went away for a few weeks (presumably while it rotted!) they're now back...  I wonder about getting the rat catcher in? We have chooks, dog, cat, guinea pig and small children. It's a worry. (fish too but the indoor variety so I guess they're safe  )

I don't mean filling them in, I mean to dig a big hole and totally destroy any nest. I know it won't get rid of them, they'll probably move into one of my sheds instead! But hopefully I'll find out for sure what made it, and if it's rats I'll get poison etc.

[woodburner]

They are bigger than you think - i'd been hoping ours were rabbits as they seem way too big for rats 

I've done some more googling and the holes are within the limits for rats. 
The droppings still look more like deer than rats, though.  Also I didn't think rats were so neat about where they do their business, and these are in a very limited area, two or three deep.

[GrannieAnnie]

We've got a rat keeps digging under the greenhouses and Brian's workshop where the feed is kept.  There was a hole in one corner of this shed where Brian has put his electric conduit through, and never filled it in.  so a while back, he got a big piece of lead, and shaped it round the corner of the shed on the inside, and hammered it in place then stood 2 bricks on it.  I went in there yesterday and saw the rat had been back, and when I looked, the rat had only chewed through the lead as well!!!!!

It must be a heavy rat now!!!!!

[woodburner]

We've got a rat keeps digging under the greenhouses and Brian's workshop where the feed is kept.  There was a hole in one corner of this shed where Brian has put his electric conduit through, and never filled it in.  so a while back, he got a big piece of lead, and shaped it round the corner of the shed on the inside, and hammered it in place then stood 2 bricks on it.  I went in there yesterday and saw the rat had been back, and when I looked, the rat had only chewed through the lead as well!!!!!

It must be a heavy rat now!!!!!

Lead is pretty soft, especially compared with rodents teeth! With a bit of luck it will die of lead poisoning now though! 

I've been down and dug two big holes, and there was no sign of occupation at all. The clearly disused hole didn't go far at all but the other one went down well over 1ft!

I think I can put off getting poison without any more worry than before.

Hehe I was really convinced something would come shooting out of the hole, I stuffed a load of 1/2" chicken mesh into the big scrape before I started. 

[shiatsusu]

Apologies once again to be the voice of doom but I wonder whether it's a "rat- run" rather than their main residence? Ours seem to move between holes at random and when you think you've got one sussed another appears a bit later on... It's the downside of being in the country and keeping chooks or feeding wild birds  Although they say wherever you are you're never more than 2 feet from a rat  Be interested if you watch the hole for a bit and see them- maybe bait it with some food then you'd know for sure. Last summer ours were running all over the garden bold as brass- even had a huge fat one saunter past, stop and look at me yelling and leaping about waving my arms at it then carry on not remotely concerned as if nothing had happened! Then the puss cat discovered them and they've become much less visible since. We also now have a pup and I think that's made them more cautious too.

[betty]

oh my you all have some big whatever they are.  We have blocks of rat poision over here and it work good.  Pellets are not the way to go.  They carry them off and your other animals are likley to find them.  This block I'm talking about is solid, and when they nibble on it, it turns to a powder in thier mouths, and the poison is absorbed into their blood stream.  I takes about 3 days to kill them.  Rats are smart.  They will watch the others eat  it and if all seams ok they will all eat it.  Then after 3 days it hits the whole bunch of them, killing them DEAD.  I guess chickens draw rats and you all  have some Biggins. :blink:

[woodburner]

Good point about pellets v. blocks Betty, I will remember that (I hope  )

There have always been ratruns, tunnels through longer rough grass and such, even when no-one has had chickens, as long as they don't do anything destructive or get so numerous as to be seen, it's not a big deal. I don't want them breeding or feeding on my territory so to speak though.